Benin: The country orders the withdrawal of batches of antimalarial specialities, deemed non-compliant.
In an information note issued to the Beninese medical profession and made public on Saturday, the Beninese Agency for Pharmaceutical Regulation (ABRP) has ordered the withdrawal of “batches of antimalarial specialties” deemed non-compliant.
The Director General of ABRP, Dr. Yossounon Chabi, said that this decision follows a series of tests conducted by the National Agency for Quality Control of Health Products and Water (ANCQ). ABRP said that the tests were conducted on drugs taken from pharmacies throughout the country.
In total, nine medicines are targeted by the measure. They all have as active ingredients quinine sulphate, quinine dihydrochloride, quinine dihydrochlorydrate and Artemether.
“I would like to invite all pharmaceutical establishments and all health structures to withdraw from their stocks, the boxes of the above-mentioned batches and to return them, without delay, to the wholesale distributors for the necessary measures”, writes Dr Chabi in his information note.
The message is addressed, among others, to the various orders of health professionals, the manufacturers of the products concerned, consumer associations in Benin, and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
According to the National Malaria Control Programme (PNLP), malaria remains the leading cause of consultation, hospitalisation and death among children under five.
The NMCP reports that in 2020, Benin recorded 2,289,948 confirmed cases of malaria, including 2,450 deaths. The disease killed 1,966 children under five.
